Guts United Taiwan (GUT) yesterday slammed the government for putting World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer on a three-year blacklist and declaring her a potential threat to social order in Taiwan.
The group was planning to invite the US-based Kadeer to attend screenings of The 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary film on the exiled Uighur leader, after the film was officially released on DVD in Taiwan last month.
However, the group found that Kadeer is currently covered by a three-year entry ban when it contacted the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to inquire about a visa for her.
NO ENTRY
“The MOI told us that she’s under a three-year entry ban, hence she will not be allowed to enter the country,” GUT secretary-general Gary Chiang (江季剛) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“It’s true that, according to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法], a person may be banned from entering the country for up to three years if his or her visa application has been rejected, but Kadeer never even applied for a visa last year,” Chiang said.
When questioned by lawmakers about the issue, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) told the legislature last year that Kadeer would not be allowed into the country.
APPLICATION
Asked to comment, National Immigration Agency (NIA) deputy director-general Chang Chi (張琪) said the decision to block Kadeer’s entry came as a result of a meeting.
However, when the Taipei Times asked if such a meeting could be called before a person had filed a visa application, Chang said: “Of course she applied, how could we hold a meeting if we hadn’t received a [visa] application first?”
Chang was unable to answer when the Taipei Times asked whether Kadeer filed the application through Taiwan’s representative office in the US or in Taiwan.
Chiang, who was responsible for handling the invitation to Kadeer both times, insisted that she did not file an application for a visa last year.
“If the NIA says she did, does it have proof? Can it name the person who filed the application?” Chiang asked.
DAUGHTER ARRIVING
As Kadeer is banned from Taiwan, her eldest daughter, Raela Tosh, will make the trip on behalf of her mother. Tosh will arrive tomorrow morning and stay until Wednesday.
“She’ll be meeting supporters of the Uighur rights movement in Taiwan and will attend two public screenings of The 10 Conditions of Love,” GUT chairman Liao Wei-cheng (廖偉程) said.
The screening in Taipei will take place at 7pm on Monday at the auditorium of Taipei City Council.
Another screening will take place at 7pm on Tuesday at the Moon Theater in Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center.
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